Nonfiction: From Hardtack to Home Fries, Barbara Haber

From Hardtack to Home Fries: An Uncommon History of American Cooks & Meals
Barbara Haber
ISBN: 0142002976
Micro-history of American foods and cookery.
Read April 8, 2016

This was a cute little book rescued from a recent weed at a branch location - (don't worry, it's been sent off to keep living at the central library) that looked so interesting (and nicely short) that I just couldn't resist picking it up.

Basically, Haber's been fascinated with cookbooks and history her whole life, and she's parlayed that into a job keeping and furthering a collection of historic cook books and cooking-related books at the Schlesinger Library at Harvard's Radcliffe Institute.  Pretty nifty.  Haber has a moderate, readable, likeable tone that wanders between just slightly professorial (when something interestingly historical or consistently overlooked is under consideration) to happily chatty and casual.  The read feels like nothing so much as an afternoon porch visit or an evening out drinking with someone who is knowledgeable and secure enough in their knowledge that they enjoy discussing it, but don't feel that they need to convince anyone or prove themselves.  A very enjoyable tone for a nonfiction, especially a micro-history of something as interesting and overlooked as cooking and women's experiences with food and culture.

The whole book was fascinating, but I especially enjoyed learning more about:

Chapter Three: They Dieted for Our Sins: America's Food Reformers
Chapter Four: The Harvey Girls: Good Women and Good Food Civilize the American West
Chapter Five: Home Cooking in the FDR White House: The Indomitable Mrs. Nesbitt

The bits about the Irish immigrants and the potato famine, and about African American women re-claiming their heritage as cooks and creators of good food with American and African roots were also very interesting, but not as new or unexpected.

I could have done without the chapters on wartime deprivation and starvation (American Civil War nurses and Japanese POW nurses) and I didn't find the chapter on the interesting social-activism shop in Boston as compelling as I think I ought to.

Overall a cute little foray into American experiences and cookery.  A fun, enjoyable little microhistory that I didn't even know to look for.  I love when books come to me like that - so nice to have a fun unexpected discovery.